Australian Baroque

02/09/2026

A quick snap shot of some of the hundreds of performers joining Australian Baroque on stage in Esperance next week!
🎵 SOUNDS OF ESPERANCE Festival 2026 🎵
Two nights. One orchestra. And much of this town on stage.
PERFORMING
Big Heart Adventure
Prisoners of the Sun
The Arid Ones
South Sea Shantymen
Bijou Theatre Group
Hellfire String Ensemble & ESHS Guitar Ensemble
Pop-Ups Choir
Esperance Community Singers
Esperance Senior High School
Esperance Anglican Community School
Nulsen Primary School
Castletown Primary Schools

SOLOISTS
Calypso Shelton
Georgia Durdin
Irene Melbourne
Minky Gardner
Nicholas Sortberg
Zai Pereira
With the Sounds of Esperance Festival Orchestra
Conducted by Brian Kruger
📍 Esperance Civic Centre
📅 Fri 11 & Sat 12 September, 6pm
RegionalWA GoldenOutback

26/08/2026

This is the venue for tomorrow’s concert!
Tomorrow night it’s Haydn, Mozart and Purcell.
Doors 7pm, concert 7:30.
Government House Ballroom.
Link in bio.

25/08/2026

Vienna, 1792. Haydn is 60 and playing to London audiences who arrive after a long dinner and, frankly, sometimes doze off during the slow movements.
So he writes a slow movement that starts as quietly and sweetly as you could wish — and then, without warning, detonates.
They called it the ‘Surprise’ Symphony. Haydn’s own explanation, reportedly, was simpler: he wanted to make the ladies jump.
It’s on tomorrow night, along with his ‘Military’ Symphony, Purcell and Mozart. Seven players, period instruments, Dr Geoffrey Lancaster AO on fortepiano.
Doors 7pm, we start at 7:30.
📍 Government House Ballroom, 13 St Georges Tce
🎟 Link in bio

25/08/2026

We’ve played in this room before, and it does something to the sound — the dome, the timber floor, the height of it. Music written for exactly this kind of space, in a space built for exactly this.

On Thursday: Haydn’s ‘Surprise’ and ‘Military’ Symphonies in eighteenth-century chamber arrangements, Purcell’s Sonata in Four Parts, and Mozart’s Don Giovanni Overture.

Seven of us — flute, string quintet and fortepiano — on period instruments, directed by Dr Geoffrey Lancaster AO.

The ‘Military’ Symphony contains a moment Haydn wrote in 1792 to make an audience cry out. It’s generally reckoned to be the first “scream” in orchestral music. It still works.
Come and hear what the room does with it.

Thursday 27 August. Doors 7pm, concert 7:30pm

Government House Ballroom, 13 St Georges Terrace, Perth.

Entry via the Ballroom Gates between Council House and the Ballroom.

No parking on site — City of Perth parking at Council House or on Terrace Road. Buses run along St Georges Terrace.

Tickets $70 / concession $50 / students $25 / under 18s $10
👉 australianbaroque.com

24/08/2026

This Thursday night.

In 1792 Haydn wrote a moment into a symphony designed to make the audience cry out loud. Accounts from the time say it worked — people shouted. It’s generally reckoned to be the first “scream” in orchestral music.
We’re playing it this Thursday in the Ballroom at Government House. Haydn’s ‘Military’ and ‘Surprise’ Symphonies, Purcell’s Sonata in Four Parts, and Mozart’s Don Giovanni Overture — on period instruments, directed from the fortepiano by Dr Geoffrey Lancaster AO.
The Ballroom was built in 1899. Most people in Perth have never been inside it.
🗓 Thursday 27 August · doors 7pm, concert 7:30pm
📍 Government House Ballroom, 13 St Georges Tce
🎟 $70 / conc $50 / students $25 / under 18s $10 — link in bio
PerthMusic PerthEvents ClassicalMusic Fortepiano EarlyMusic WhatsOnPerth PerthArts

18/08/2026

Our Castletown kids hard at work for the Sounds of Esperance Festival!!!! Amazing kids 💕

🎶 The sound of singing filled our undercover area as Castletown and Nulsen students came together for a Massed Choir Festival rehearsal with Australian Baroque. Led by Pia Harris, students practised their songs, actions and teamwork ahead of their performance on 11 September. We can't wait to see them shine! ⭐

17/08/2026

Our Sounds of Esperance Festival is fast approaching and we are delighted to introduce some of the 900 people involved in it! Today meet the Pop-Ups! A delightful group of amazing women, all fantastic musicians in their own right, who meet to sing amazing harmonies in wonderful company. Don’t miss them on stage with us on Sept 11 and 12, Esperance Civic Centre!

13/08/2026

Look closely.
This is a fortepiano — the instrument Mozart and Haydn actually wrote for. Lighter, stranger and far more violent than a modern piano. It bites.
On 27 August, Dr Geoffrey Lancaster AO directs Haydn’s Surprise and Military Symphonies from this instrument, in the Ballroom at Government House — including the moment Haydn wrote to make an audience shout out loud. Music history’s first orchestral scream.
Seven players. Three metres away. 1899 ballroom.
🎟️ Thursday 27 August, 7:30pm — link in bio